We stared our day with another delicious breakfast from the 45th floor. Unlike yesterday the rain and low cloud had given way to a nicer, brighter day, although mostly cloudy. We were heading out to Mount Fuji, so a clear sky was a necessary thing to enjoy the vista. Time would tell.
After breakfast we made our way to the tor meeting point. We were assigned to bus 9. On looking around we saw drivers with signs for bus 7 and 8. Hmmm, where was our driver. We watched as both bus loads of folks were marshaled off behind their respective drivers. About 30 of us were left standing wondering what was going on.Â
Four or five minutes later we hear a booming voice BUS NINE. BUS NINE. Good morning, I’m Toshi, gather around. Finally our guide had arrived, some late comers were mucking up paperwork and timings, but we were on our way.
The two hour drive started slowly as we battled the Sunday traffic jams of downtown a Shinjuku. Soon the roads cleared as the city scape made way to low rise industrial, which eventually gave way to rural and then dense bush land and forests as we slowly made our way higher and higher and farther south.
Toshi announced each station on the Subaru line as we climbed higher and higher. First 500 meters, then 1,000 and so on until we hit 2,500 meters and station 5 look out. Well look up in this case. Fuji is some 3,766 meters so we were about 66% of the way up there.Â
The air was cold, crisp and noticeably thin. Below us a sea of cloud, as if we’d transcended to some unearthly place where all that existed was Mount Fuji and a landscape of cotton wool. We marveled at the majestic snow capped volcano. Toshi reminded us to prey it didn’t erupt today.
Once we’d had our fill of the view and some quiet contemplation time, oh and the visit to the souvenir shop perfectly placed where the tourist buses parked we were on our way to Hakone and Lake Ashi for a luncheon, a cruise and cable car ride or see Fuji from a different angle.
Lunch was a traditional Japanese affair. Raman hot pot, tempura, salad and rice. Quite yummy.
The cruise was fun, short and serene across the lake.
The cable car ride was also fun, although the car was overcrowded and felt both unsafe and squishy with no real view except of people’s armpits as they hung on for dear life. We reached the top, about 1,100 meters up, but sadly the cloud cover was at 1,100 meters, so we were shrouded. The mountain top was eerie and quiet, serene and end of the world feeling. Mount Fuji wasn’t visible and the only other thing here was the Shinto Shrine. We made the pilgrimage across the mountain top and followed the traditional wish and prayer. We stood and listened to the silence, the clouds moving around us in a misty dance across the mountain top as we stood and listened to the silence.Â
After a little while we caught the cable car back down the mountain, different arm pits obscuring any view as the sardine filled glass box made its way the 600 meters back to our bus. Between us and our bus stood another array of shops with aspirational photos of Fuji at dawn, dusk and every other spectacular time of year. It was a real shame we missed it, but we were very luck, blessed a Toshi said, to have seen the top while we were at station 5.
We made our final journey on the bus to the bullet train station and jumped on a bullet train back to Tokyo. The 130 minute bus ride there was reduced to 40 meters home as we clocked speeds of over 270kmp most of the way home.Â
At Tokyo we got out and walked around, but decided to head back to our hotel instead of staying out. So we jumped back onto a train and headed home.
After a break we decided to visit Shibuya. Only three stations from us this shopping Mecca boasts a busy and maniacal multi directional crossing. Check out the video.
We wandered the streets for about an hour and ordered dinner from a machine outside a restaurant, got a ticket and walked in. Three minutes later dinner was served. Amazing efficiency.
We did some more wandering after dinner and finally headed home.
